Rio Ferdinand slams 'prehistoric' Sky pair over lineswoman comments

Rio Ferdinand praised the assistant referee Sian Massey on Twitter and added: 'Discrimination should not happen in our game at all ... prehistoric views if u think otherwise.' Photograph: Sean Dempsey/PA

Sky's main football presenters were yesterday labelled "prehistoric" by the England captain, Rio Ferdinand, for their views of women officials and executives, as Uefa described football as a game run by an "institutionally sexist" old boys' club.

Richard Keys and Andy Gray were dropped from presenting Bolton Wanderers' match against Chelsea as their employer was forced to condemn their comments about the female assistant referee Sian Massey, who was branded "fucking hopeless", and the West Ham United vice‑chair, Karren Brady.

The Sky Sports managing director, Barney Francis, said he had spoken to both men personally to tell them their comments were "totally unacceptable" and "inexcusable from anyone at Sky regardless of their role or seniority". The pair will be absent from screens until at least next week and have been warned that any repeat is likely to be a sackable offence.

The insults levelled at Massey came just days after a meeting of senior European football figures, convened by Uefa and the Football Association, concluded that football is "institutionally sexist" – run, across the continent, by a self-perpetuating "old boys' club".

Further humiliating footage emerged of an exchange between Gray and a Sky touchline reporter in which they discussed Massey in disparaging terms before going on air.

BSkyB has poured millions into partnerships with British Cycling and corporate sports-based social responsibility initiatives in a bid to soften its image and highlight its investment in grassroots sport. There will be concerns that huge investment could be undermined if it was perceived that the attitudes of Gray and Keys are widespread.

Keys and Gray were recorded before the match at Molineux between Woverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool on Saturday making derogatory remarks, which were not broadcast, about Massey. She has been selected by the Premier League as one of three "level two" officials with the potential to officiate at a higher level.

Gray said "somebody's fucked up big" by appointing Massey to run the line. Keys agreed, saying Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, "will go potty". Referring to the Premier League's first female assistant referee, Gray said: "Wendy Toms, she was fucking hopeless as well."

Francis added: "We have dealt with this matter by taking immediate disciplinary action. As with any employee it would not be right to go into detail on those proceedings. However, they have been clearly warned about their behaviour and reminded of their responsibilities."A spokesman for the Professional Game Match Officials Board said last night that Keys had phoned Massey on Sunday night to offer a personal apology, which she accepted. The 25-year-old will run the line tonight at Crewe Alexandra's game against Bradford City.

Through Twitter, Ferdinand praised Massey and added: "I'm all for women refereeing in football, discrimination should not happen in our game at all ... prehistoric views if u think otherwise."

The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, has joined the chorus of criticism. The government is likely to put pressure on the FA to overhaul its governance structures to make it more representative and inclusive in the wake of a parliamentary select committee inquiry, submissions to which are due in this week.

The Uefa meeting, held in Amsterdam last week to launch an effort to address "institutional discrimination", considered new research which documented the "under-representation" of women in coaching or executive positions, and a finding that "more than 99%" of European football's senior administrators, at clubs and football associations, are middle-aged to elderly white men.

Referring to the lack of women coaches, executives or club directors, the report, by Dr Steven Bradbury of Loughborough University, concluded there is a "deeply masculine culture, and overt and casual sexism inherent within the men's game".

The report by Bradbury and his research team, presented to the "institutional discrimination" seminar which included the presidents of five European football associations, three members of Uefa's executive committee and Sue Law, the FA's head of equality and child protection, stated that in football, knowledge and expertise are assumed to belong to "the male expert" and women's abilities are "devalued and invalidated".

"These stereotypical perceptions which equate women with a lack of suitability and competence have contributed to 'filtering out' women from accessing leadership positions at men's professional football clubs and at the regional, national and European level of football governance," the research concluded.

Senes Erzik, the Turkish Uefa vice-president and chair of the European governing body's fair play and social responsibility committee, is to table a formal resolution at Uefa's executive committee for sexism and racism in the game to be addressed.

In an interview on TalkSport, Sky Sports anchor Richard Keys cites 'dark forces at work' as he discusses the sexism scandal surrounding himself and co-presenter Andy Gray. He was later forced to resign